MAUSAM JAIN

“We move through a space; we stop in & are directly involved with places”- Yencken (1995)

The concept of ‘place’ is a way of relating physical space with human aspects. Any urban form, which carries with it imprints of urban life, becomes a place; be it a building, a street, a market or an entire neighborhood. The relative permanence of an urban space helps establish its qualities as a meaningful place. The physicality provides a tangible record or the passage of time & embodies social memory. Impermanence is however, antithetical to placemaking as its importance is attached to considerations of sustainability. Place-making looks at the city on a human scale & re-builds it for human beings rather than just cars, buses & trains. This thesis investigates the role of architecture in increasing the quality of people’s experiences of everyday life in the public domain, and to explore opportunities to re-frame a non-place in the city of Mumbai, by imbuing ‘The Architecture of Place’ with a ‘Sense of Place’ in the urban district of BKC in the city  of Mumbai. An architectural object with its obvious nature of creating a powerful public presence is used as a tool for place-making to transform a non-place like BKC into a vibrant district by creating a system of ‘people-places’ throughout the district.

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This thesis addresses the following questions:

1.Has architecture lost its ability of place-making?

2.How can architecture interact with the urban fabric to favour urbanity & enhance a place’s resilience?

3.How do experiences change user perceptions from a ‘non-place’ into a ‘place’?

4.How can non-places be adopted, redefined & re-calibrated to play a more important role in the fabric of a city?

5.How can movement & behaviour of people   determine the design, definition, form & notion of a place ?